Updates Required to replace MNPS
MNPS approvals issued to U.S. Operators before 2016 must be updated by December 31, 2019, if these operators want to keep flying the North Atlantic. Beginning in January 2020, the term MNPS (Minimum Navigation Performance Specifications) will be replaced with NAT HLA (High Level Airspace).
The most significant change in this transition will be the requirements for approval to enter the new NAT HLA, specifically the mandate to have RNP4 or RNP10. The new NAT HLA will keep the original vertical profile of FL285 to FL420, but will add Bodo Oceanic to the list of Shanwick, Gander, Reykjavik, New York and Santa Maria.
Over 1000 General Aviation Operators who still have the old NAT MNPS Approval will have to get new B039 LOA’s (Operations in the North Atlantic High Level Airspace) by the end of December. To get the LOA, operators must provide evidence of compliance regarding the RNP4 or 10, flight crew training (including new contingency procedures), and they must have operating procedures in place.
Operators will also need the B036 LOA for “Oceanic and Remote Continental Navigation Using Multiple Long-Range Navigation Systems”.
